Rehabilitation Haptics

The research focusses on the development of an adaptive home-centered rehabilitation therapy system for stroke patients. The proposed system would be a haptic based system that would adapt the force feedback on the basis of the patient’s mental engagement (using BCI) and the patient’s response to therapy. The research focuses on the development of fine motor skills of stroke patients, particularly those required to perform activities of daily living (ADL).

ADL skills such as using a fork and spoon, twisting door knobs and being able to manipulate simple objects require fine motor control of the patient’s hand, and are better suited for home-based therapy. But due to monetary costs and time commitment involved in home-based therapy, there is very little monitoring of the progress of the patients. The proposed research approaches the above stated problem with two novel propositions. First, this research will determine how to adapt existing robotic/haptic technology to rehabilitate ADL skills in both the affected and the non-dominant/unaffected hand of a patient. Second, the research will investigate the use of home centered haptic therapy. Third, the proposed system will use cognitive and haptic feedbacks to monitor the progress of patient and his engagement and adapt itself accordingly.